This Irish-born soldier signed his name at the Warren House, caught up in the decisive Battle of Jonesboro. What became of John W. Dunlava of the 34th Illinois?

Sgt. John Dunlava (regimental history, his signature inside and the exterior of Jonesboro's Warren House (Picket photos)

John William Dunlava was here (Ireland), here (Lynville, Ill.) here (Calcasieu Parish, La.) and, later in life, here (Arthur, N.D.).

For purposes of this blog post, Union Sgt. John Dunlava most importantly was here – the Warren House in Jonesboro, Ga. And he wanted those who came later to know it. Employing large, loopy letters, Dunlava signed his name on an interior wall.

The Warren House, built in 1840, has since then been a wedding and events venue and, currently, an office for psychological therapy. On Aug. 31-Sept. 1, 1864 -- 162 years ago this week -- the residence was at the center of the Battle of Jonesboro, a stunning Confederate loss that resulted in the capitulation of Atlanta.

The Warren House was used as a field hospital and headquarters by Rebel troops until taken by the Union on Sept. 2, 1864, for the same use.

“Captured by the 52nd Illinois Infantry, signatures of convalescing Union soldiers still appear on the walls of the downstairs parlor,” the facility website says. (Picket photo, above). It's possible some of the names are not of soldiers. Some other signatures, including that of Dunlava, are in an upstairs room.

Dunlava (pronounced Dunlavey) served in Company E, of the 34^th Illinois, which was in the thick of things at the decisive battle at Jonesboro.

“Looks like they were in the 4 p.m. attack that overran (Daniel) Govan’s brigade and two artillery batteries. Govan was captured and later exchanged for (George) Stoneman,” said Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association.

The exchange in October would include most of Govan's captured men.

I could not tell from a search of online records whether Dunlava was wounded at Jonesboro. And it’s hard to tell whether he left his signature in 1864 or came back to visit the site. Some of the writing on the wall dates to the 1870s, suggesting veterans traveled back to visit battlefields.

Why point out Dunlava?

Good question, and here is my answer. It’s the one name that was legible and I could connect with a service record and biographical details.

So I went down a rabbit hole, scouring the internet for anything I could find about the man, who emigrated to the United States after the Irish potato famine and farmed in the Midwest and the Northern Plains.

A regimental history published in 1902, three years before Dunlava died at age 64, provides some details on his Civil War service. (Photo, findagrave.com)

For whatever reason, he did not much keep up with old pards and is not listed in a list of 34^th veterans attending an 1897 reunion.

“He says he has not met a 34^th man for thirty years, except Capt. J.M. Myers, of Company H, whom he met on a train, between Chicago and Polo, Ill.,” the history says.

As for the house where he left his name? It's currently for sale with a $1.2 million asking price. 

"The Warren House is more than real estate-it's an opportunity to steward a living piece of history while unlocking its commercial potential," says an eXp Realty listing on Georgia MLS.

He sailed from Ireland to start a new life

John Dunlava was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in June 1840. He moved to the United States in 1858 and, like more than 170,000 fellow Irishmen, joined the Federal army.

Signatures of several individuals are encased behind a covering on the back wall (Georgia MLS)

At the time Fort Sumpter was fired on in April 1861, he was attending school in St. Louis, Mo., and "saw the ‘Elephant’ before he appeared to the general public,” said the regimental history.

“Seeing the elephant” was a 19^th-century metaphor for obtaining hard-earned experience, such as in combat.

Known as the “Rock River Rifles,” the 34^th Illinois was organized at Camp Butler in September 1861. Dunlava was right there from the start; he reenlisted at some point.

The regiment fought throughout the Western Theater, from Stones River to Chattanooga, the Atlanta Campaign, including Kennesaw Mountain, the March to the Sea and the Carolinas Campaign.

By late August 1864, Atlanta was not yet subdued and a few supply lines were still available to Confederate troops.

Map of battlefield that appeared in 1902 volume about the 34th Illinois

“Sherman determined that if he could destroy the Macon & Western and Atlanta & West Point Railroads to the south the Rebel army would be forced to evacuate the city,” says the American BattlefieldTrust. To counter Sherman, Hood sent Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee with two corps to halt the Union movement.

“On August 31, Hardee attacked west of Jonesborough but was easily repulsed. Fearing a direct attack on Atlanta, Hood withdrew one corps from Hardee’s force that night. The next day, a Union attack broke through Hardee’ s troops, which retreated south.

The 34th was among those to break Rebel line

The author of the regimental history details the Federal assault by the 14th Corps against worn-down Rebels at Jonesboro. The attackers achieved a rare success for those going against heavily fortified defenses..

"By several accounts, the attacking Confederates on 31 August lost any enthusiasm for the attack before getting close to the U.S. Army lines. Both C.S. and U.S. generals remarked that the usual Southern élan for the offensive was lacking, and the soldiers seemed to forego further advances well before being ordered to retreat," said Crawford.

Confederate POWs under guard after capture (Harpers Pictorial History of the Civil War)

The 34th Illinois and other regiments in the Sept. 1 attack knew they were in for a fight.

“Kenesaw (sic) was now two months old, and quite forgotten," says its history. "There was a saucy foe in front and a sure chance for a fight, with a fairly good chance of giving him a threshing (sic).”

The attack netted about 600 prisoners and eight artillery pieces. Total Confederate casualties for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 numbered between 1,400 and 2,200. Those captured were close to 900.

The 34th Illinois, which assisted the 78^th Illinois, had five killed and 14 wounded at Jonesboro. From May to Sept. 20, 1864, it suffered about 125 casualties.

The writer of the history, Sgt, Edwin Payne of Company A, described rudimentary field hospitals. Regarding one, “There were forty-nine cases of amputation at the hospital, this writer contributing a right arm to the general assortment of such discovered appendages.”

The loss of the Macon & Western Railroad near Jonesoboro left Atlanta isolated and largely unsupplied. On the evening of Sept. 1, Hood finally evacuated Atlanta, which surrendered to Federal troops on Sept. 2.  

The Warren House (above, Picket photo) was just one of many hospital sites trying to save lives on both sides.

“For many years, a bullet lodged in the wall and cannonballs in the yard were evidence of the proximity of heavy fighting,” says an historical marker outside the home, which is located at 102 W. Mimosa Drive, off busy Jonesboro Road.

I visited the house several years ago and took photographs of the signatures, which are preserved under a clear covering. I couldn’t make out enough words to connect them with a specific soldier, as I did with Dunlava.

“Willi Wood” may be a reference to 34^th officer William S. Wood. The “am” in William likely faded away with time.

Two more names at the end of the long panel in house; click to enlarge (Picket photo)

Veteran, wife endured ups and downs of life on the Plains

Dunlava stayed with the army until October 1864, when he received a 20-day furlough and went home.

“Upon his return, the Army had started on the ‘March to the Sea,’ and he remained in Chattanooga, with Lieutenant Hall, of his Company, until March 1865, and then went, by way of New York, to Morehead City and Goldsboro, and joined his Regiment, 17 miles beyond Raleigh, N.C., and was mustered out as a Sergeant, at Louisville, Ky.,” says the regimental history. His service ended July 12, 1865.

Dunlava is listed in most census forms as a farmer. By 1870, he was living, apparently unmarried, near Lake Charles, La.

The lure of the Great Plains, specifically North Dakota, drew Dunlava and other settlers bent on obtaining land and making their mark on the agricultural expanse.

He met a divorced Clara Seager, seven years his junior, on the Amenia Sharon Land Company's farm at Amenia in spring 1880 (photo, above). The company built a depot and, later, a grain elevator at the nearby Northern Pacific tracks.

“John was one of the farm hands on this farm of 30,000 acres. Clara cooked for the crew of 30 men,” says a page on Digital Horizons, a consortium of institutions celebrating life on the Northern Plains. The account comes from a 1962 history of Arthur, N.D.

“They were married in 1880 and went to live on John's homestead; the NW1 h of Section 30 of Arthur Township. Here they lived through many vicissitudes the next twenty-five years; drought, grasshoppers, hail, chinch bugs, rust and blizzards.”

The couple had several children; Clara had two from her first marriage.

John died May 3, 1905, and is buried in Erie, N.D. Clara moved with family the next year and died in 1920 in Roscoe, S.D. She was 72.

These names speak of lives long gone

Soldiers have long left their mark at places associated with battles and campaigns. There are several other sites in the South bearing scrawled names and graffiti.

This appears to be by a soldier with the 69th Ohio, which was at Jonesboro. This is downstairs (Picket photo)

The Warren House features several names, dates and poems. A history on its website said they were discovered during repairs made in the mid-1930s. The names include Robert Sullivan, James B. Washington and George W. Harding.

“During the Battle of Jonesboro bodies of the dead and wounded were reputedly piled three deep in the grounds behind the Warren House,” according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Crawford, of the GBA, said when he leads tours of Jonesboro or speaks about the Atlanta Campaign, he mentions that of all the engagements during the campaign, there was only one in which the attacking force was largely successful, and that would be Jonesboro

"When the 1993 Civil War Sites Advisory Commission report evaluated the 384 battles it considered, only two battles in Georgia were ranked as Class A -- i.e., having a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct impact on the course of the war," he added. "Those two battles were Chickamauga and Jonesboro. How great it is that Chickamauga was the first battlefield created as a national military park, and how sad it is that Jonesboro is totally unprotected."

Dr. Jack Farrar, who operates Mind Synch, a neuroscience center, bought the house in 1994. He provided mental health services there before revamping it as an event venue in 2012. Those services were largely curtailed after Covid-19 and the house is home to the therapy practice, says Farrar's daughter Sarah (Photo of exterior, Civil War Picket)

Rear of the Warren House can be seen just off Jonesboro Road (Georgia MLS)

Sarah Farrar told the Picket the house, zoned commercial, could be used for a business, residence or bed and breakfast. The family prefers that it be preserved and keep most of its character.

A 2014 article in the Clayton News Daily quoted Jack Farrar as saying soldiers were moved to a dying room when nothing else could be done for them after the battle.

"The surrounding land was once marked by visible breastworks, and relics such as Minie balls were commonly found on the grounds," says the real estate listing.

Was Dunlava wounded at Jonesboro? Visiting a comrade who was? Or just stopped by the Warren House out of curiosity?

If only his signature could tell.

Civil War tales at Jonesboro

A storyteller will describe a more personal side of the Battle of Jonesborough (Georgia) on Saturday at the Patrick R. Cleburne Confederate Cemetery in Jonesboro. The 1864 battle was pivotal because the Confederate defeat led to the supply rail lines being cut and the fall of Atlanta. “This is not a glorification of war, but an acknowledgement of the human spirit and all its great and not so great moments," says Peter Bonner. • Article

Funeral home will be built on Ga. site

The Jonesboro City Council cleared the way this week for a funeral home to be built on about 11 acres after a contentious fight to preserve what is believed to be the last piece of unspoiled Civil War battleground in the county. • Article | • Battle summary

Amazing story of captured Bible's return to soldier from Maine -- 60 years later

The following is among my favorite stories in the nearly three-year existence of the Civil War Picket.

On April 21, 2012, Robert Clayton of Islesboro, Maine, returned a Confederate battle flag to Fort McAllister, Ga., 147 years after its capture by his great-grandfather, Capt. W.Z. Clayton. There's a side story that may be even more incredible.

Robert Clayton has in his possession the Bible that belonged to W.Z. Clayton. The Union soldier lost the Bible at a battle and it went into the hands of a Confederate. A Union officer "recaptured" it two years later in fighting near Atlanta. After a lot of twists and turns, the Bible got back to W.Z. Clayton in late 1923 or early 1924 -- 62 years after he had last seen it. Robert Clayton provided most of the following information, and I've done as much additional research as I practically can at this moment. I'd love to be able to fill in the gaps:



William Zoron Clayton, a native of Freeman, Maine, was 25 when the Civil War began. He joined the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery. His wife, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Rice Clayton, gave him this small Bible. She inscribed (above, click to enlarge) the first verse of a popular 1830s song, "Sweet Memories of Thee." The words are: "When soft stars are peeping, Through the pure azure sky, And southern gales sweeping, Their warm breathings by -- Like sweet music pealing Far o'er the blue sea, there comes o'er me stealing Sweet memories of thee."

Another inscription in the Bible (click to read) tells the bearer to keep it close. The penmanship does not appear to be Elizabeth's. At the time, the verse was commonly written in Bibles.

W.Z. Clayton, while a sergeant, wrote the following message to whomever might come in possession of his Bible. (click below to enlarge) The remainder of the message will be presented later in this post.



The 1st Minnesota Light Artillery saw its first significant action of the Civil War at Shiloh on April 6, 1862. Clayton was wounded in the great clash at the Hornet's Nest. It's not clear how he lost custody of the Bible. Perhaps the sergeant dropped it or the Rebel found it in the battery's camp, forward of the Peach Orchard. Clayton's unit barely escaped capture that day.

The Bible was then signed by L. Herndon, Co. I, 1st Regiment Mississippi Cavalry. Sgt. Lucien (possibly) Lucius Herndon was a member of the Pontotoc Dragoons. (Click photo below to enlarge)

On April 6, at Shiloh, the 1st Mississippi Calvary advanced on the left flank of Cheatham's Division. One of their officers captured a different Union battery that was poised to retreat to the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing. The Mississippi unit later fought in Louisiana, Alabama, middle Tennessee and Georgia.

Sadly, Clayton's wife, Lizzie, died on May 10, 1864, according to ancestry.com. W.Z. Clayton at that time was in North Georgia taking part in the Atlanta Campaign, serving with 1st Minnesota Light Artillery.

I do not know what became of Herndon and whether he or the 1st Mississippi Cavalry were at the Battle of Jonesboro, a Union victory south of Atlanta Aug. 31-Sept 1, 1864. But I think it's likely they did.

At Jonesboro, the Bible came into possession of 1st. Lt. Obed Sherwin of the 47th Ohio Volunteery Infantry (click photo to enlarge, who added his name. Sherwin, of Jefferson Township, Ohio, was wounded some time during the war by a round that killed another soldier.

The 47th OVI saw early service in Virginia. The regiment transferred west and joined the 15th Corps in time for the 1863 Vicksburg operation. Later in the fall, the Buckeyes joined the Chattanooga-Ringgold campaign and took part in Georgia operations. Sherwin mustered out in January 1865.

Above Sherwin's notation is the balance of W.Z. Clayton's note to whomever might find his New Testament. It asks it be returned to his father, Bartholomew, in Freeman, Maine. It also notes W.Z.'s membership in a masonic lodge.

From here, the story of the recaptured Bible becomes murky, with few details.

Robert Clayton said the Bible eventually to a Capt. Thomas, who moved to Texas and held the Bible for about 40 years. Mrs. Thomas gave it to a J.A. Creath in Gurdon, Ark., in December 1923 (click photo to enlarge). Someone saw the inscription that indicated W.Z. Clayton was a Mason, and through that fraternal order, was able to locate the former Union officer and send the Bible to him.

After the war, Clayton married Laurette E. Knowles and they had six children. He passed away in October 1929 in Bangor, Maine, at 94.

Dressed in black: Mourning tour explains life and death during Victorian era

Scarlett O’Hara wanted little to do with that mourning business.

Her husband, Charles, had died of pneumonia during the Civil War.

Scarlett, who felt she is too young to be a widow, wore a mourning dress to a charity ball in Atlanta.

In that famous scene from “Gone With the Wind,” the dashing Rhett Butler won the right to dance with her in front a horrified crowd.

You may remember the looks of disgust, particularly among the ladies present, as they dance, Scarlett decked in black.

"For a widow to appear in public at a social gathering - everytime I think of it, I feel faint," bemoaned Aunt Pittypat.

Scarlett had violated the traditions of mourning in the Victorian era. Women of means would mourn for two and a half years and dancing with a bachelor was out of the question.

This story is among many described through the end of August at Stately Oaks Plantation, a Greek Revival home in Jonesboro, Ga., scene of a bloody 1864 battle.

The house, built in 1839, was moved nearly 40 years ago from a field a few miles away where Union soldiers camped prior to the battle.

Clayton County, south of Atlanta, has many ties to Margaret Mitchell, author of “GWTW.” Her great-grandfather, Philip Fitzgerald, had a home nearby. Stately Oaks claims Mitchell may have gotten some of her inspiration for her characters by driving by historic Jonesboro.

I stopped by Stately Oaks this week for the “mourning tour.” I was thoroughly impressed by a collection of artifacts and the wonderful telling of history and traditions by docents Kay Dreyer and Jan Turner.

“You did everything you could to honor the dead,” Dreyer said.

Of course, soldiers killed in battle usually were buried where they fell, but families and friends made every effort to recover their body later.

Mourning displays fill the two-story house, which has an original cookhouse, a tenant cabin and one-room school. The loss of a child is represented in the parlor.

Stately Oaks this year has a display on African-American mourning traditions in the Victorian age.

I was fascinated by the origin of some traditions:

-- A wake was a period in which people would sit next to the coffin and ensure the person wasn’t really “asleep.”
-- Bodies were usually displayed in the parlor or a bedroom. Once “funeral parlors,” or businesses came into being, a home’s parlor became known as a “living room.”
-- Feet of a deceased loved one were pointed to the door so its journey to heaven would not be impeded.
-- Mirrors in the house were covered. “You should not be vain during mourning,” Dreyer said. Spirits also wouldn’t want to see themselves and be denied access to heaven.
-- In the South, slaves would sing a mournful song en route to a grave, while sharing a joyful one coming back to celebrate “Going Home.” Sometimes, a plantation owner wouldn’t allow a funeral until late at night so as to get a full day of work from them.
-- A small bottle (below) would catch tears. They would either be saved or poured over a grave.

The discussion may appear morbid, but I found the docents’ explanation of mourning rituals fascinating.

“These people knew death could happen in a moment,” said Dreyer, who has volunteered at Stately Oaks for three decades and is in her third year of leading the mourning tours.

Families took care of the dead themselves. Grieving lasted three days, and an invitation to a viewing or funeral was hand-delivered. Because this was before the time of widespread embalming, people brought flowers to help mask the smell.

People in Victorian era also were sentimental and superstitious.

One third of children died before they were 5 and a photo of their remains might be the only image a family would possess.

Unscrupulous photographers sometimes took advantage of this. Through “spirit photography” they would obtain an image of the deceased while he or she was alive and then superimpose it over a survivor, as if it was a guardian spirit.

The top killers of married women were childbirth and a house fire.

And mourning for the sexes was unequal. A husband mourned three months and often would wed a sister or cousin of his wife.

A wife, however, had an extended period of mourning, with different stages of colors. During the Civil War, especially, a woman with modest means, might have to dye a dress black.

Stately Oaks has dozens of artifacts showing mourning as a business, with parasols, fans, buttons, portraits and much more. I won’t share all of what they have here. But a visit this month will give you a fuller appreciation of life and death during the era.

The mourning tour takes about two hours to go through the house and the other buildings. Tours are conducted on the hour from 10 am til 4 pm (last tour at 3 pm) Monday - Saturday. Admission: Adults, $12; seniors, $9 (55 yrs); and children, $6. Stately Oaks also offers AAA and military discounts.

• Click here for more information on Stately Oaks.